Week In Review

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Dear Dad..

Dear Dad,

Remember the time you helped us build the bridge to cross the pond? I still have to wonder if it’s hanging out there behind the Bright Blue house that’s no longer bright blue.

Remember the time my room was so messy you said I couldn’t go swimming until I finally cleaned it up? As I recall it took me past lunch time, and I managed to find a missing library book! I might have to try that on the boys next summer.

Remember the time we planted that huge garden in NY and you couldn’t figure out why any of the green beans were growing? We kept snitching them right out of the garden, but I promise we were not at fault for that cantaloupe fiasco!

Remember the time you helped me build that green volcano out of an orange juice can when I was studying Hawaii? Then we had the Hawaiian Luau and exploded the thing with way too much baking soda and vinegar? I’m pretty sure Mom hasn’t forgotten the mess she found!

Remember the time I came home and found my room painted all purple? Sometimes, I still dream of a purple room, but then I wake up and see I’m still surrounded by boring white walls.

Remember when Mindy got hit by a car and I woke up in the middle of the night and came running into your room because there was rust all over the basement floor from the water heater? I was convinced the poor dog had bled all over the basement floor!

Remember how every time we had peas you use to say, “I eat my peas with honey..”? I quote that same poem every time we have peas, the boys wish I’d stop but some traditions really must live on!

Remember the time you built a little house to cover the main box to the electric fence and then you let me paint it bright blue? I sat on the can lid and had a ring of blue on the back of those pants forever.

Remember the time you built that cage for the guinea pigs? I walked out on the porch and asked what you were making and you made up a story on the go. That was the best guinea pig cage ever!

Remember how I use to say it was terrible to eat frog legs because the poor frogs wouldn’t like it? You always said it was okay because they gave the frogs little crutches and they were quite happy with them. I use to envision little froggie wheelchairs too!

Remember the time I helped you stack the wood up in Spencerport? We had to pass it through the basement window, and then you gave me a red beaded necklace. I’m pretty sure I still have that necklace in a box in the attic.

Remember how every time we had mashed potatoes you’d always poke Mom’s and then she’d say, “Stop playing in my food!” I always consider poking other people’s mashed potatoes when they are served, except I never make gravy so it would slightly defeat the purpose.

Remember that time you bought the pink and purple bicycle for me? The one with the little bag that could velcro on the front of the bike? I still have a pink and purple bicycle, it just doesn’t have a bag on it anymore!

Remember that time we made homemade salsa and then you accidentally rubbed your eyes after cutting a jalepeno? You get the same terrible effect if you rub your nose after cutting jalepenos too!

Remember when R was in the hospital and Mom was staying with her so I was suppose to make sloppy joes for dinner? They were most likely the worst thing I’ve ever cooked in my entire life, and I’m pretty sure they tasted terrible too!

Remember when we were on vacation in NY and every time you parked the car you ended up nudging the car in front of us? I haven’t started nudging other cars yet, but I’ve hit the sidewalk on occasion!

Remember that time I just couldn’t wait to watch Beauty & The Beast, and when when you turned it on it turned out to be a terribly scary show instead of the story I’d envisioned? I’ve never forgotten that hideous show!

Remember the night you brought Libera home? That was the year I had a Mickey Mouse cake and the dog promptly thanked me for adopting it by emptying herself on the floor.

Remember how you taught CPR classes and you had to take Annie with you? I saw an Annie laying on the ground recently and when I said, “Oh look it’s Annie!” I got some really funny looks.

Remember when you bought Mom her first cockatiel and she promptly named it Emily only to discover it was a boy? The neighbor’s named their cat Molly and it turned out to be a boy. I laughed for ages when they told me, I’m pretty sure they thought I was slightly mental.

Remember how every Christmas everyone use to make you peanut butter cookies and then hide them away until Christmas Day? When we made some this past Christmas and I told the boys that story they decided that you were right Peanut Butter cookies are the best!

Remember how much I use to love eating Grapenuts and you use to say that they were all the seeds from the grapes that people saved up. They don’t sell Grapenuts here, I guess Australians must like to eat their grapeseeds instead of saving them up!

Remember the time we were watching a Bills game and you were down at the second barn and knew something good happened because you could hear us screaming? I saw this fellow in my local grocery store this week with a Bill hat on, apparently I was grinning more then I thought because he stopped to stare at me for a minute.

Remember that time D and I were playing outback and the power flickered inside and you came out to see if anything was a miss? Yeah, well we’d kicked the soccer ball and managed to hit the power wire going into the house. I’ve always been convinced that’s why it flickered.

Remember the time you changed out the water heaters and I was helping and managed to smash my finger between the water heater and the spout? Now, when the boys ask if I’ve ever broken a bone I can tell them all sorts of funny stories about broken fingers and arms.

Remember that time Mom was working at the ambulance and you had to take all three of us into Dr Garcia (I’ve always remembered her because of that fun strawberry shaped toy box she had. That's saying something too, because I have no idea what my current Dr's name is, and it was like playing Guess Who with another Dr to get to the bottom of who my Dr is!) and we all had to line up for that terrible throat swab? I can’t remember if it was positive or negative, but I remember everyone lining up.

Remember when you decided to use oil lamps at night to cut back on the electric bill? I remember everyone scrambling when the wicks kept catching on fire and shooting up the chimneys. It’s hard to tell that story without laughing!

Remember the huge picnic bashes you use to throw on the 4th of July when we lived in NY? Remember that time the entire firework supply got set on fire and we all thought it was this amazing spectacular show and it turned out to be a total accident! They don’t do fireworks here on the 4th, so we have to settle for sparklers.

Remember when we went out to see the Harlem Globetrotters at Tech and we came home and the house was completely covered in a gray film and there was a burnt piece of firewood laying in the yard? You and Mom fessed up to ordering pizza and burning the box which led to that chimney fire. I recall being more concerned about the possibility of dirty unders laying around when the firemen were rushing around the house.

Remember those stick horses you made for the boys and mailed to them? They are used for horses, hockey sticks, rockets, and anything else they can imagine them to be. The boys are also convinced that grandpas can build anything in the whole world.

Remember that Farting Monkey candle you sent us? Yeah, I was the only one brave enough to actually sniff the candle! Because I survived, the rest of the gang gave it a whiff. Then of course everyone wanted to know if that’s what a monkey really smells like...

Remember that chocolate mint pie I wanted to make? I was too wimpy to go into a bottle shop and buy the liqueur so you stopped off on your way home from work. Yeah, I’m still too wimpy to go into the bottle shop and I’m trying to convince people to go buy me a bottle of vodka. But don’t panic, I’m only going to make vanilla essence out of it!

Remember how you use to have a mustache all the time? Well, the boys stumbled across a picture of you with one and they laughed for about 20 minutes over it. When I asked what was so funny they started all over again.

Remember the big green family tent we use to take out every summer and go camping in? We now have a big blue tent to take out camping and I’m pretty sure the risk of it snowing on the 4th of July here are way greater then it was there!

Remember when I got married and you were so worried it would rain and ruin the whole thing? Not a drop fell, but boy was it cold. There are certain family members who’ve dubbed it the coldest day of the year. Which was, of course, followed by one of the warmest days of the year.

Remember how you use to flip through all the satellite channels to try and find a New Year’s count down? The year where we missed the apple falling by seconds and aimed to watch the peach fall were quite memorable. There is no falling fruit here, but an awful lot of fireworks!

Remember how we use to pick on you for wearing your knee socks pulled up even when you wore shorts? We ended up taking pictures of it and marking it for all times in one of the scrapbook albums laying around here.

Remember the toy box and awesome puppet theatre you made? We wish, all the time, we had them here. The boys have to make do with a rubbermaid box and a curtain instead.

Remember when you worked at Kodak and we use to go each year and see the movie? I don’t remember what movies we saw, but I remember the huge screen and the giant stash of suckers we got afterwards.